Dune Messiah (novel)
Dune Messiah, written by Frank Herbert, is the second novel in the Dune science fiction series. It originally appeared in Galaxy magazine in 1969, in a shorter version. A longer version was first published, in novel format, in 1970 by Berkley Publishing. Synopsis Twelve years after the events described in Dune, Paul Atreides rules as Emperor of the Known Universe, following Muad'Dib's Jihad which he unleashed by accepting the role of Mahdi to the Fremen. While Paul is the most powerful Emperor ever, he is ironically powerless to stop the lethal religious excesses of the juggernaut he has created. Although sixty billion people have perished, Paul's prescient visions indicate that this is far from the worst possible outcome for humanity. Motivated by this knowledge, Paul embarks on the Golden Path, a complex and perilous plan to set humanity on a course that will not inevitably lead to stagnation and extinction, while at the same time acting as ruler of the Empire and focal point of the Fremen religion. The situation is further complicated by the conspiracy of powerful interests who hope to reverse the events that brought House Atreides to the throne, including the remnants of the displaced House Corrino, the Bene Gesserit who have lost control of their Kwisatz Haderach, the Spacing Guild, who now are utterly beholden to Paul, and the Bene Tleilax. The Atreides dynasty is unstable because Paul has not produced an heir. Chani, his lover and concubine, is secretly given contraceptives by the Princess Irulan Corrino, Paul's wife in title only. Though Paul is aware of this scenario, he has foreseen that the birth of his heir will bring Chani's death, and he does not want to lose her. But his hopes are put into question after Chani switches to an ancient Fremen fertility diet, and subsequently conceives. The conspiring parties, intent on ending the Atreides Empire, give Paul a gift he cannot resist: Hayt, a ghola of Duncan Idaho, his childhood teacher and friend. The conspirators hope the presence of Hayt will undermine Paul's ability to rule by forcing Paul to question himself and his empire he has created. Furthermore, Paul's acceptance of the gift weakens Paul's support among the Fremen who see the Tleilaxu and their tools as unclean. Additionally, the Bene Tleilax, who created the ghola, hope that it will provide them extra insight and control through espionage orders embedded into its psyche. Further complicating the situation is the physical maturity of Paul's powerful sister, Alia, who finds herself irresistibly attracted to Hayt/Duncan. Alia and Hayt investigate the appearance of a female corpse near the city; Hayt realizes that the fact that no-one has been reported missing implies a Tleilaxu plot in which the woman has been replaced by a face dancer. Hayt also takes this opportunity to steal a kiss from Alia. She is outraged, but Hayt just laughs, saying he took nothing more than she offered, a fact she admits to herself privately. Paul Muad'dib demands to see Mohiam, who fears she will be killed, but instead discovers Paul wants to bargain with her: Paul offers to produce a child by artificial insemination in return for the survival of Chani and her child. Mohiam, desperate to regain the Atreides genes for the Bene Gesserit breeding programme, would have to violate Butlerian Jihad taboos against the use of machines. Furthermore, she realizes no child born in this way would be a candidate for the Golden Lion Throne, and that the Bene Gesserit could never admit the existence of such a child without risking their position in the Empire. She decides that she must consult with her Bene Gesserit counterparts on Wallach IX. Six weeks later Chani is seen by a medic, and discovers her pregnancy has become complicated because of the contraceptives introduced to her system. Realizing that only Irulan could be the perpetrator, Chani wishes to kill her but is prevented by Paul. She questions whether it is sensible for Paul to continue to spar with Hayt, and Paul replies that the Tleilaxu have made him better than they could know and that it may be possible to restore Hayt's memories as Duncan Idaho. Unknown to Paul, this is precisely the Tleilaxu plan; to restore Hayt's memories as Idaho, thus fulfilling a long-time technological ambition, and proving to Paul that they could clone and restore Chani to him after she dies in childbirth for a heavy price. The daughter of Otheym, one of Paul's Fedaykin commandos, asks Paul to visit her father in secret, and while Paul realizes she has been replaced by a face dancer, his prescient visions show that revealing this will lead to futures he wishes to avoid. Paul is forced to admit the face dancer after she asks to be taken into Paul's household, although he places her under guard. He then visits Otheym. Otheym reveals evidence of a conspiracy against Muad'dib among the Fremen, some of whom are distrustful of following the Atreides, and gives Paul his Tleilaxu servant Bijaz, who, like a recording machine can remember faces, names, and details. Paul accepts reluctantly, seeing the strands of a Tleilaxu plot. As Paul's soldiers attack the conspirators, the Tleilaxu set off a stone burner that destroys the vicinity and blinds Paul. Paul is able to continue in leadership by fixing his actions precisely in line with what his previous oracular visions showed him; by moving through his life in lockstep with his previous visions, he can see even the slightest details of the world around him. The disadvantage of this is his inability to change any part of his destiny so long as he wishes to appear sighted. The unraveling of the conspiracy reveals that Korba, high priest of Paul's church, is among Paul's enemies, and while Korba tries to deny this, persuading the Fremen Naibs of his innocence, Paul arrives to confront him directly and Korba is put into Stilgar's custody. Hayt interrogates Bijaz, but the dwarf, secretly a Tleilaxu Master, uses planted conditioning words and whistled tunes to control the ghola, and programs Hayt to offer Paul a bargain when Chani dies: Bijaz offers Chani's return as a ghola, and the hope that Duncan Idaho might be reawakened, in return for Paul sacrificing the throne and going into exile. Unknown to Hayt, this also activates a hidden compulsion that will force him to kill Paul given the appropriate circumstances. Hayt comes across Alia, who has overdosed herself with spice in the hope of enhancing her prophetic visions. Her peril provokes fierce emotional response from Duncan and Alia realizes that Duncan loves her, a fact that the ghola admits to. News emerges that Chani has died giving birth to two healthy children, Leto and Ghanima. The twins are pre-born due to their father's prescient nature and Chani's encounter with the spice essence while pregnant. News of the birth is delivered to Paul, who foresaw Ghanima's birth, but had not had any prescient warning of Leto's possible existence. His reaction to Chani's death triggers the compulsions in Hayt's mind, and he attempts to kill Paul. But reacting against its own programming, Hayt's body remembers itself, and a new consciousness arises that is a mix of Duncan Idaho and Hayt unconditioned by the Tleilaxu programming. Paul is unsurprised by this, having foreseen it. As Paul nears a crucial decision point in time, causing his prophetic visions to fail and rendering him totally blind, he is thrust into a deadly standoff. Scytale, disguised as Otheym's daughter, holds a knife to the necks of Paul's children. He offers to revive Chani as a ghola in return for Paul's abdication. Refusal of the offer would result in the murder of Paul's new-born children. However, Paul receives a prescient vision from the perspective of his newborn son, and using his son's eyes, he is able to throw a dagger and kill Scytale. With Paul's visions gone, he is now blind, and he chooses to walk into the desert in the Fremen tradition, winning the fealty of the Fremen for his children, of whom Leto II will inherit his mantle of Emperor. Paul leaves Alia as regent for his children. At the conclusion of the novel, Duncan examines the irony that Paul and Chani's deaths enabled them to triumph against their enemies. Duncan realizes that Paul escaped deification, walking into the desert as a man, while guaranteeing Fremen support for the Atreides line. Stilgar interrupts Duncan to suggest he should go to a distraught Alia, and Duncan goes to comfort her. Stilgar reports that he has carried out Alia's orders to execute Gaius Helen Mohiam, Edric, Korba, and "a few others." Because the key players of the conspiracy are now dead, Paul's children are left in an apparently safe situation. Characters *Paul Atreides, Emperor of the Known Universe and Messiah to the Fremen *Irulan Corrino, wife (in title only) of Emperor Paul Atreides *Chani Kynes, Fremen lover and Imperial concubine of Paul Atreides *Alia Atreides, Abomination and Paul's younger sister, born with prescient awareness *Gaius Helen Mohiam, a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother and conspirator *Edric, a Guild Navigator and conspirator *Scytale, a Face Dancer and conspirator *Hayt, a revived ghola of Paul's childhood teacher, Duncan Idaho References Film and TV adaptations The novels Dune Messiah and Children of Dune were adapted by the Sci-Fi Channel in 2003 into a well-received mini-series entitled Children of Dune. External links *''Dune Messiah'' publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database de:Der Herr des Wüstenplaneten ru:Мессия Дюны Category:Novels Category:Classic Dune